This is the second in a two-part post about the Remedy Clause. This post goes into detail about future use cases, while the first post provides a general overview.
As noted in the first post, the Remedy Clause remains relatively underdeveloped in case law, leaving its scope and contours largely undefined. That initial discussion highlighted two concrete ways the Clause has already been used to advance worker protections: by extending common law remedies to undocumented workers and by placing limits on legislative rollbacks of workers’ compensation schemes. This post builds on that foundation by exploring other potential pathways for leveraging the Clause to strengthen labor and employment rights.
Protection Against Retaliatory Dismissals
In 49 states, employment relationships are presumed to be “at-will,” allowing employers to terminate workers without cause. Some cities have created industry-wide statutory carveouts to this default — NYC has passed legislation ending at-will employment for fast-food workers, and Philadelphia has done the same for parking attendants. However where there is no statutory protection, a well-established common law exception prohibits terminations that violate public policy. Traditionally, this exception applies when an employer fires a worker for actions that are legally protected or socially valuable — such as serving on a jury or reporting illegal activity. Courts generally require that the source of public policy be found in a statute,...
As the U.S. grapples with rising measles cases across multiple states and the highest number of cases since 2019, about half of adults (51%) and parents (47%) say they are at least “somewhat worri...